Raley Field

Sacramento has a nice minor league baseball stadium right near the downtown area. There areconcerts, baseball games, and even soccer games at Raley Field.

Our first experience there was for a Monterrey (Mexican) versus Preston (English) futbol (soccer) game. The game was headed off by the singing of the US, Mexican, and UK national anthems...
The pitcher's mound was leveled and the field was covered with sod, which was easily kicked up and unhappily tripped over by the soccer players.
Unfortunately (since we were there with Stef and Mike, and clearly rooting for the UK,) Preston lost 4-0 to Monterrey.

With a crew of people from the Met School, we returned to Raley Field a few days ago to see the River Cats (Sacramento) wallop the Sky Sox (Colorado Springs).

The weather was a brutal 95 degrees even after the sun set. We could not get enough iced beverages into our systems to offset the heat, so we stuck it out until the 7th inning singing of 'Take Me Out To The Ballgame', then escaped to our A/C'd vehicle! It was a joy to see baseball in this cozy stadium. We left when the score was 5-0 River Cats and I know they did eventually win.


Did you know this?: The words to Take Me Out To The Ballgame were written in 1908 by Jack Norworth, who while riding a subway train, was inspired by a sign that said "Baseball Today — Polo Grounds". The words were set to music by Albert Von Tilzer, although neither had ever seen a baseball game. (Norworth and Von Tilzer finally saw their first Major League Baseball games 32 and 20 years later, respectively.) The song was first sung by Norworth's wife Nora Bayes and popularized by various vaudeville acts. Norworth wrote an alternative version of the song in 1927. (Wikipedia)